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The link between M-BBM en M+P (30/50)
M+P has never limited itself to regional interests. We are internationally focussed thanks to the various projects we are involved in, as well as our German parent company, Müller-BBM, with its 1,200 employees and more than 30 domestic and foreign companies under its umbrella. Norbert Suritsch, Chairman of Müller-BBM AG, has been involved for 36 of our 50 years. And that’s certainly long enough to talk about the close ties that exist between the companies within this group that is located in the Müller-BBM campus in Planegg (near Munich).
A family feeling..
Norbert Suritsch has been at the head of Müller-BBM since 2009. However, first contacts with our Dutch company date back 36 years when his main focus was on the environment and air quality. “There is a very sympathetic team in the Netherlands that I enjoy visiting regularly,” he says. “We have been connected for a long time and have celebrated many important moments together. The big summer party in Planegg in 2010 is a perfect example. In addition to the official opening of the Planegg office building, a beer garden and barbecue, we watched a football match, complete with orange team kits, Hollandse Nieuwe and Schiedamse jenever. It certainly feels like family. One big European family, with a long history.”
...and great involvement on a professional level
Informal moments are important of course, but they are not the “be all and end all”; after all, the collaboration exists for professional reasons. Suritsch continues: “Since the very beginning, the Müller-BBM holding and now independent subsidiary M+P have worked on countless technical topics and European projects together. Both companies benefit greatly from this collaboration. In terms of corporate culture, M+P fits perfectly within the Müller-BBM group: there is a lot of space and freedom to develop without a constricting hierarchy or highly controlling managers.
What I also see as an important form of connection is the so-called Mitarbeiter Beteiligungsmodell, the joint shareholding. The fact that more than 50% of the M+P employees have invested in cooperative Müller-BBM Group shares really says something about the involvement of our Dutch colleagues.”
Strong together, but with our own identity
Together we are stronger, says Norbert Suritsch. “Our similarities and differences mean we reinforce each other. Dutch culture is different to German culture, but there are no major differences to speak of. And even though we are a large company and therefore slightly less vulnerable, I secretly look at your agile smaller company with a small amount of jealousy. I am full of admiration and pride that M+P really belongs to Müller-BBM, yet has developed a clear identity of its own. A small and agile company with a fresh perspective, a beautiful modern website, and that is innovative and able to quickly respond to new developments. Under its own steam, M+P has made quite a name for itself in quiet road surfaces and road traffic source policy, for example.”
A close bond, also in the future
In a rapidly changing world, our technical hunger and mutual involvement remain areas in which we find each other. With a focus on a European working area and cross-border projects, and with a narrowing language gap among young people who very often speak English to each other, Suritsch sees the differences between M+P and Müller-BBM only diminishing as the next generation comes in. Both companies face the challenge of presenting themselves attractively as a group in order to recruit and retain the right new young people. It is very interesting for career-conscious employees to be able to transfer to another position within the Müller-BBM group without disappearing from the scene. Norbert Suritsch likes this future. “I hope M+P enjoy at least another 50 years while still preserving the independence and motivation that brought it to where it is today.”
